5/08/2009 @ 5:15PM

In Pictures: What CEOs Did As Interns

Tom Adams

CEO of Rosetta Stone

My first internship was in London, when I was 20 years old and attending the University of Bristol. I worked for a reinsurance broker that dealt with Lloyd’s, one of the world’s leading specialist insurance companies. I had a number of interesting tasks, like finding insurance coverage in case Meat Loaf lost his voice during a tour. The big lesson I learned was that business is not about avoiding risk so much as it’s about taking on managed and diversified risk. That has helped shape my work at Rosetta Stone, where we’re working to change the way people learn languages. In running an entrepreneurial venture, it has been crucial that we have a good handle on the risks we take.